A blender or food processor
A large, wide, heavy-bottomed pan or pot — wider is better, as more surface area allows water to evaporate more efficiently
A wooden spoon or heat-resistant spatula for stirring
A fine mesh strainer, cheesecloth, or a nut milk bag
A clean glass jar or bottle with a tight lid for storage
A ladle or large spoon for skimming
Optional: a candy thermometer to monitor temperature
Step-by-Step: How to Extract Avocado Oil at Home
Step 1: Select and Prepare Your Avocados
Start with the ripest avocados you can find. If your avocados are still slightly firm, leave them at room temperature for two to three additional days until they are fully soft. The extra ripening time significantly increases oil yield.
Wash each avocado thoroughly under running water. Cut each one in half lengthwise, remove the pit, and use a large spoon to scoop the flesh into your blender or food processor. Discard the skin and pits — or save the pits to grow your own avocado tree, and save the skins for a secondary oil extraction (more on that below).
Step 2: Blend to a Smooth Paste
Process the avocado flesh in the blender or food processor until it forms a completely smooth, uniform paste with no lumps remaining. The smoother the paste, the more efficiently the oil will be released during heating, as more of the cell walls will have been broken down.
If your blender is struggling with the thick paste, add the smallest possible amount of water — no more than two to three tablespoons — to help it process. Adding too much water will dilute the oil and make separation more difficult later.
Transfer the smooth paste to your wide, heavy-bottomed pan.
Step 3: Apply Gentle Heat
Place the pan over very low to medium-low heat. This is the most critical step — patience and temperature control are everything.
Begin stirring the paste gently and continuously with your wooden spoon. As the pan warms, you will notice the paste beginning to change — it will darken slightly, and steam will begin to rise as the water content evaporates. Keep stirring to ensure even heating and prevent any part of the paste from scorching on the bottom of the pan.
After 15 to 20 minutes of gentle heating and stirring, you will notice something remarkable: small droplets of oil will begin to appear on the surface of the paste, gathering and pooling as the water evaporates and the oil separates from the solid material. The paste will take on a darker, slightly grainy appearance as the fiber dries out.
If you have a thermometer, aim to keep the temperature of the paste between 60 and 80 degrees Celsius — warm enough to evaporate water and release oil efficiently, but cool enough to preserve the nutritional compounds and avoid burning.
This heating and stirring process typically takes 45 minutes to one and a half hours depending on the ripeness of your avocados, the water content of the fruit, and the heat level. Be patient — rushing with higher heat will compromise the quality of your oil.
Step 4: Press and Strain
Once the paste has dried out significantly — it will look crumbly and dark, somewhat resembling dried green pulp — and oil is clearly pooling and separating on the surface, remove the pan from the heat and allow it to cool for 10 to 15 minutes until it is comfortable to handle.
Transfer the paste in small batches to your cheesecloth, nut milk bag, or fine mesh strainer placed over a clean bowl. Squeeze, press, and wring the material as firmly as you can to extract every drop of oil from the solids. Take your time with this step — the more pressure you apply, the more oil you recover.
The liquid that collects in the bowl will be a mixture of oil and any remaining water. Do not be discouraged if it looks cloudy or greenish at this stage — it will clarify beautifully in the next step.
Step 5: Separate and Clarify
Pour the pressed liquid into a clean glass jar with a tight lid. Place it in the refrigerator and allow it to sit undisturbed for at least 12 hours, and ideally 24 hours. During this time, the oil and water will naturally separate by density — the oil will rise to the top, forming a clear, green-tinted layer above any remaining water or moisture at the bottom.
After refrigeration, carefully spoon or pour off the top oil layer into a separate clean jar, leaving any water or cloudy sediment at the bottom behind. This separation step is what gives you the purest, cleanest finished oil.
Step 6: Store Properly
Transfer your finished avocado oil to a clean, dry glass jar or bottle with a tight-fitting lid. Dark glass bottles are ideal as they protect the oil from light degradation. Store in a cool, dark location — a kitchen cupboard away from the stove is perfect.
Properly stored homemade avocado oil will keep for two to three months at room temperature, or up to six months in the refrigerator. In the fridge, high-quality avocado oil may solidify or become cloudy — this is completely normal and does not affect the quality. It will return to liquid form quickly at room temperature.
The Bonus Method: Extracting Oil from Avocado Skins
Here is a second extraction that most people throw away without realizing its value.
The avocado skins that you removed in Step 1 still contain a meaningful amount of oil trapped in the inner layer of the peel. If you have a fruit press, citrus press, or even a sturdy garlic press, stack the skins flesh-side down and press them firmly over a collecting bowl. The oil that drips out can be strained through a coffee filter and combined with your main extraction, or used separately.
This secondary extraction produces a slightly different oil — often darker and with a slightly stronger flavor — but is equally pure and usable for both cooking and cosmetic purposes.
What to Do With Your Homemade Avocado Oil
Pure home-extracted avocado oil is extraordinarily versatile. Here are the best ways to use it:
In the kitchen:
Drizzle over salads, roasted vegetables, or grilled fish as a finishing oil — the fresh, grassy, slightly buttery flavor is exceptional
Use for sautéing and stir-frying — avocado oil has one of the highest smoke points of any cooking oil, making it ideal for medium-high heat cooking
Blend into smoothies for a dose of healthy fats and vitamins
Use as a base for homemade salad dressings, marinades, and dips
Drizzle over hummus, guacamole, or bruschetta as a premium finishing touch
For skin and hair care:
Apply a few drops directly to dry skin as a deeply nourishing facial oil — the oleic acid and vitamin E penetrate skin beautifully
Use as a hair treatment — apply to dry ends, leave for 20 to 30 minutes, then shampoo out for soft, moisturized, frizz-controlled hair
Mix with a few drops of essential oils to create a custom body oil for massage or moisturizing
Apply to cuticles and nails to strengthen and hydrate
Use as a natural makeup remover — it dissolves both waterproof and regular makeup gently without irritating the skin
The Health Benefits of Pure Avocado Oil
What makes homemade avocado oil genuinely worth the effort — beyond the satisfaction of creating it yourself — is its exceptional nutritional and therapeutic profile:
Heart health support: The oleic acid in avocado oil is the same monounsaturated fat extensively studied for its benefits to cardiovascular health, including reducing harmful LDL cholesterol levels and supporting healthy blood pressure.
Anti-inflammatory properties: Avocado oil contains compounds that reduce systemic inflammation — a key driver of chronic disease including arthritis, cardiovascular disease, and metabolic syndrome.
Exceptional skin penetration: Unlike many oils that sit on top of the skin’s surface, avocado oil’s molecular structure allows it to penetrate deeply into the dermis, delivering its nutrients where they are most needed. This is why it is so highly valued in premium cosmetic formulations.
Eye health: The lutein and zeaxanthin present in avocado oil — particularly in unrefined, home-extracted oil that retains more of these carotenoids than heavily processed commercial versions — are the most important nutrients for protecting long-term eye health and reducing the risk of age-related macular degeneration.
Nutrient absorption: Research has shown that consuming avocado oil alongside vegetables and salads significantly increases the absorption of fat-soluble nutrients — including vitamins A, D, E, K, and carotenoids like lycopene and beta-carotene — from those vegetables. Adding avocado oil to a salad is not just flavor — it actively makes the other vegetables more nutritious.
Vitamin E richness: Avocado oil is an excellent source of vitamin E, a powerful fat-soluble antioxidant that protects cells from oxidative damage, supports immune function, and contributes to healthy skin and hair.
Tips for the Best Results
More avocados means more oil — with 10 to 12 avocados you will typically yield two to four tablespoons of oil. If you want a meaningful quantity for regular use, double or triple the batch
Riper is always better — the single biggest variable in oil yield is ripeness. Fully ripe avocados contain up to three times more oil than underripe ones
Low and slow wins — rushing the heating process with higher heat reduces oil quality significantly. Patience during the heating and evaporation phase is the key to premium results
Use Hass avocados when possible — they have a significantly higher oil content than most other varieties and produce the best yield for home extraction
The color of good oil — home-extracted avocado oil made from ripe fruit will have a beautiful deep green to golden-green color. This color comes from the chlorophyll and carotenoids naturally present in the fruit — it is a sign of quality, not a defect
Never use metal utensils for long-term storage — store the finished oil in glass only, as metal can react with the oil over time and affect flavor and quality
Why Homemade Always Beats Store-Bought
Most commercial avocado oil — even bottles labeled “extra virgin” or “cold-pressed” — has been subjected to processing, filtration, and in many cases chemical refining that strips away much of the color, flavor, and beneficial compounds that make pure avocado oil so valuable. Studies have found that a significant percentage of commercially sold avocado oil is adulterated — diluted with cheaper oils like soybean or sunflower oil — or made from oxidized, overripe, or low-quality fruit.
Your homemade oil contains none of those compromises. It is extracted from fruit you chose yourself, processed with nothing but gentle heat, and filtered with nothing but clean cloth. It retains its chlorophyll, its carotenoids, its vitamin E, and its full complement of bioactive compounds. And it tastes like a real avocado — because that is exactly what it is.
The Bottom Line
The “avocados on fire” trend is not a gimmick — it is a genuinely brilliant, centuries-old extraction method that anyone with a kitchen, a blender, and a bag of ripe avocados can use to create pure, fresh, premium avocado oil at home for a fraction of the cost of store-bought alternatives.
It takes patience. It takes ripe fruit. And it takes a willingness to spend an afternoon doing something that connects you to the deep, craft traditions of food production that most of us have completely lost touch with in the age of instant everything.
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